Adult Fiction:
1. Castle Gardens: Daniel R. Lemon, Casper, WY
2. Rip Rap: Jerry Sanders, Buffalo, WY
3. Sold: L. G. Vernon, Cheyenne, WY
1st Honorable Mention. Anniversary Blues: Helena Linn, Big Piney, WY
2nd Honorable Mention. All In Good Time: Helena Linn
Special Honorable Mention. Signs: Lynn G. Carlson, Cheyenne, WY for a 99 word entry that was complete in every way.
Articles:
1. A Female Mark Twain: Roxie Olmstead, Sheridan, WY
2. Time to Exalt The Lonely Toothbrush: Roxie Olmstead
3. Tooth Talk: Cynthia Bower, Casper, WY
1st Honorable Mention: The Little People: Habitats on the Moon, by Mary Beth Baptiste, Laramie
2nd Honorable Mention: Making Hay: Mary Beth Baptiste, Laramie, WY
Childrens Fiction:
1. Stuck in the Middle: Fred Savage, Rawlins, WY
2. The Rabbit in the Moon: Cynthia Bower, Casper
3. The New Baby: Zoe Kalber, Big Piney, WY
1st Honorable Mention: Is He Really Santa? Roxie Olmstead, Sheridan, WY
2nd Honorable Mention: Snapper: Jerry Sanders, Buffalo, WY
Creative Non-Fiction:
1. Toby and Aunt Leah: Pat Forbis, Modesta, CA
2. That One Kid, Bruce: Fred Savage, Rawlins, WY
3. It’s Not Me, It’s You: Jonny Clinton, Sheridan, WY
1st Honorable Mention. Live! Monster Truck (and Motocross), a Letter: Phyllis Dugan, Thayne, WY
2nd Honorable Mention. Dancing With the Muse: Lynn G. Carlson, Cheyenne, WY
Essays:
1. Choosing the Good Parts… Ann Hoffmann Harris, Lander, WY
2. Leave Our Flag Alone: Michele Sherwood, Green River, WY
3. The History of a Small Place: Ann Hoffmann Harris
1st Honorable Mention. Does It Matter If God Exists: Cherie (CJ) Clark, Hardy, Ark.
2nd Honorable Mention. Nothin’ But My Spurs On: Sharon Salisbury O’Toole, Savery, WY
Free Verse Poetry:
1. Interdisciplinarian: Mary Kate McCarney, Casper, WY
2. Pending Migration: Meaghan #-L Elliott, Brighten, MI
3. Everyday Depravity: Mary Kate McCarney
1st Honorable Mention. Codge’n Sara’s Mercantile: Carol L. Deering, Riverton, WY
2nd Honorable Mention. Renascence: Bob Cherry, Cody, WY
Humor:
1. The Near Death Windmill: Linda G. Vernon, Cheyenne, WY
2. Haunted: Vickie Goodwin, Douglas, WY
3. Mrs. America Candidate: Roxie Olmstead, Sheridan, WY
1st Honorable Mention. The Fandango Tango: Cherie (CUJ) Clark, Hardy, Ark.
2nd Honorable Mention. The Naked Bumper: Roxie Olmstead, Sheridan, WY
Memoir Segments:
1. Teton-Two-Step: Mary Beth Baptiste Laramie, WY
2. The Upper Limits of Normal:David R.Shlim, M.D. Kelly, WY
3. Wrong Number?: Cynthia Bower, Casper, WY
1st Honorable Mention: Logged Out: Barbara Jo Guilford, Cheyenne, WY
2nd Honorable Mention: Wellspring: an excerpt Sharon Salisbury O’Toole
Novel Segments:
1. The Inspector of Snow and Rain: Ann Hoffman Harris, Lander, WY
2. Dead Man, Talking: L. G. Vernon, Cheyenne, WY
3. On the Little Crazy: Steven R. Laird, Buffalo, WY
1st Honorable Mention. Trapping Jessie: L. G. Vernon, Cheyenne, WY
2nd Honorable Mention. Blood Talks: Pat Stuart, Powell, WY
Traditional Poetry:
1. An Epitaph: Charles w. Popovich, Sheridan, WY
2. Earthbound: Sharon Salisbury O’Toole
3. Cruel Wilt: Lee Ann Siebken, Douglas, WY
1st Honorable Mention. To Be A Mountain: Wanda Sue Smith, Wapiti, WY
2nd Honorable Mention. Power of Suggestion: Kathy Bjornestad, Sundance, WY
Monday, June 15, 2009
NicFest 2009
NicFest is coming up June 26-28 and has three days packed full of a variety of musical entertainment, artists displaying and selling their art work, chalk art competition and stuff for kids to do. The Cabriri Performance Troupe will also bring their Ariel Dancers, Stilt Walkers and Fire Performances. Buffalo from "Where The Buffalo Roam" fundraising project a few years back will be on display inside the museum.This is a terrific festival and attracts artists from around the U.S. For more info go to http://www.thenic.org/ and click on events, then NicFest link.
Encampment's Cora Wood is "8 Seconds" finalist on CowboyPoetry.com
On June 12, CowboyPoetry.com announced its fifteenth Lariat Laureate and "8 Seconds" winners in a global competition.
Martin, S.D., rancher and poet Ken Cook, a finalist in previous competitions, was recognized as Lariat Laureate for his poem, "The Conversation."
The youngest of CowboyPoetry.com’s eight "8 Seconds" finalists is Cora Wood of Encampment.
Cora is seven years old. She is following in the footsteps of her parents. Her poem, "Chester," is about a horse she rides when working cows with her ranch manager father. Her mother is Western singer/songwriter Laurie Wood. Cora performs at events across the West. She writes songs and poems, and is also known for her yodeling, which is showcased in her new recording, Cora's Cowgirl Yodel.
Read Cora’s poem, and find out more about her, at http://www.cowboypoetry.com/winner.htm#Wood
Martin, S.D., rancher and poet Ken Cook, a finalist in previous competitions, was recognized as Lariat Laureate for his poem, "The Conversation."
The youngest of CowboyPoetry.com’s eight "8 Seconds" finalists is Cora Wood of Encampment.
Cora is seven years old. She is following in the footsteps of her parents. Her poem, "Chester," is about a horse she rides when working cows with her ranch manager father. Her mother is Western singer/songwriter Laurie Wood. Cora performs at events across the West. She writes songs and poems, and is also known for her yodeling, which is showcased in her new recording, Cora's Cowgirl Yodel.
Read Cora’s poem, and find out more about her, at http://www.cowboypoetry.com/winner.htm#Wood
Construction update on Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center
Architectural plans for Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Park County (above) and (below) construction continues at the center (photo by Pat Honstain).
Construction is coming along for the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Park County (see photo above). The grand opening of the learning center, located on the site of the World War II Heart Mountain Relocation Camp, is scheduled for June 2010. You can mark the progress of construction as you drive Wyoming Hwy. 14 between Cody and Powell in Park County.
Here's a description of the project from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation web site:
The ILC will provide an overview of the wartime relocation of Japanese Americans, including the background history of Asian prejudice in America and the factors leading to the enforced confinement of West Coast Japanese Americans. Special emphasis will be given to constitutional issues, civil liberties and rights, diversity education and training and ethnic understanding. The Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center will also provide links and virtual connections to other historical sites, research centers, and collections dealing with related issues.
Historic events specific to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center will be the central focus of the ILC’s content. Camp life, internee responses to relocation, debates over military service and the draft, the relationships between the internees and their Wyoming neighbors, the camp’s contribution to the area’s agricultural economy, the sacrifices of Heart Mountain servicemen, and the postwar experience of the internees will all be brought to life in the Learning Center’s multi-media exhibits.
Cheyenne artist Eddie Marron exhibit
The Esther and John Clay Fine Arts Gallery at Laramie County Community College will host an exhibit by Cheyenne artist Eddie Marron, "Building Blocks on Silk: a clause for self-reflection" from June 26-August 14, 2009. The reception is June 26 at 4 p.m.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Tina Welling offers free writing workshop July 17 in Sheridan
Jackson novelist Tina Welling will be conducting a free writing workshop at Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library, 335 W. Alger, Sheridan, on Friday, July 17, 2 p.m. Contact http://sheridanwyolibrary.org or 307-674-8585 ext. 15.
Register at the library beginning July 1.
Welling's two books of fiction are Cry Baby Ranch and Fairy Tale Blues. She's been on the faculty of the Jackson Hole writers conference for 15 years. Her workshops last weekend at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Casper were standing-room-only.
For more about Tina, go to http://www.tinawelling.com
Register at the library beginning July 1.
Welling's two books of fiction are Cry Baby Ranch and Fairy Tale Blues. She's been on the faculty of the Jackson Hole writers conference for 15 years. Her workshops last weekend at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Casper were standing-room-only.
For more about Tina, go to http://www.tinawelling.com
Sound Check II concert June 27 in Pinedale
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The Pinedale Fine Arts Council sends this:The Pinedale Fine Arts Council is proud to present the second annual "Sound Check," an evening of free music on Saturday, June 27, at American Legion Park in Pinedale beginning at 5 p.m.
After a successful show last summer, Sound Check II will feature a bigger lineup this year, most notably headliners The Jalan Crossland Band. Crossland, of Ten Sleep, is one of the most respected guitarists in the country and his name remains at the top of the list when mentioning great alt-country and Americana acts of the past decade. Crossland's songs are vivid, first-hand accounts of life in the small towns and backcountry of 21st century America. Like the people they portray, the songs are tough and honest. They also reflect the tremendous heart and soul of their colorful characters. Even where the warp and weave is of hardship or heartbreak, the songs are threaded with strings of optimism and humor.
Also playing Sound Check II will be Screen Door Porch (shown above), featuring Jackson Hole singers & songwriters Aaron Davis and Seadar Rose. Screen Door Porch is carving a contemporary duet sound that’s more than just two people with guitars and voices. Utilizing percussion, folk instruments, harmony and ambient textures, Rose and Davis add a new-found depth to Americana music.
Opening this year’s Sound Check will be local singer/songwriter Terry Hill. Hill has played a number of Pinedale Fine Arts Council functions over the past three years and plays locally on a weekly basis. His 2007 album, "Paso Por Aqui," is arguably the finest record to come out of Sublette County.
The now annual Sound Check was first conceived a year ago by the Pinedale Fine Arts Council as a means of testing the new sound system they purchased with grant money from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund. The Town of Pinedale and the Sublette County Recreation Board also helped support this event. As this is a park setting, please feel free to bring a chair, cooler and don’t forget sunscreen.
PFAC’s Sound Check II is free, though donations are greatly appreciated.
FMI: http://www.pinedalefinearts.com/ or 307.367.7322.
WAC grants training session in Cody June 20
Wyoming Arts Council staff members will conduct a grants training session on Saturday, June 20, 10 a.m.-noon, at the new Park County Public Library, 1500 Heart Mountain St., Cody. This event, co-sponsored by the Park County Arts Council, is free and open to the public.
The session will be conducted by Annie Hatch, WAC folk and traditional arts specialist, and Michael Shay, WAC individual artist specialist. They will discuss grant guidelines and offer tips on navigating the on-line application process.
All non-profit organizations, governmental entities (including schools) and individual artists are invited.
For more details, contact Michael Shay at 307-777-5234 or Annie Hatch at 307-777-7721. Find out more about all WAC grants and programs at the web site, http://wyoarts.state.wy.us
For information about library hours and location, call 307-527-1880 or go to http://parkcountylibrary.org/cody/
The session will be conducted by Annie Hatch, WAC folk and traditional arts specialist, and Michael Shay, WAC individual artist specialist. They will discuss grant guidelines and offer tips on navigating the on-line application process.
All non-profit organizations, governmental entities (including schools) and individual artists are invited.
For more details, contact Michael Shay at 307-777-5234 or Annie Hatch at 307-777-7721. Find out more about all WAC grants and programs at the web site, http://wyoarts.state.wy.us
For information about library hours and location, call 307-527-1880 or go to http://parkcountylibrary.org/cody/
Clay Paper Scissors Classes!
Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio is offering fun classes this summer! Classes open to all ages include:
Introduction to Silk Painting, June 13-14 9-noon, members $40; cmty $50
Intermediate Silk Painting, July 11-12 9-noon, members $40; cmty $50
Handbuilding Section A, Aug 3-19 5:30-8:30 PM, members $120; cmty $150
Handbuilding Section B, Aug 4-20, 9-noon, members $120; cmty $150
In addition, there will be an Art Camp for Jr and Sr high aged students from July 6-10, 9AM to noon, members $120; cmty $150
For more information and registration forms, please email claypaperscissors@gmail.com or call 307-631-6039.
Introduction to Silk Painting, June 13-14 9-noon, members $40; cmty $50
Intermediate Silk Painting, July 11-12 9-noon, members $40; cmty $50
Handbuilding Section A, Aug 3-19 5:30-8:30 PM, members $120; cmty $150
Handbuilding Section B, Aug 4-20, 9-noon, members $120; cmty $150
In addition, there will be an Art Camp for Jr and Sr high aged students from July 6-10, 9AM to noon, members $120; cmty $150
For more information and registration forms, please email claypaperscissors@gmail.com or call 307-631-6039.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Cowboy fest for kids at Old West Museum
The Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum will hold its 13th annual Kids' Cowboy Festival on Saturday June 13, 10 am. to 2 p.m. This free event features western entertainment and western crafts including hide painting, branding, quilting, beading, and more. Children are encouraged to wear western attire and compete in the “Best Dressed Buckaroo” contest.
FMI: Contact the Curator of Arts and Education, Kristen Ruck at mailto:mkristenruck_owm@hotmail.com or telephone (307) 778-7289.
FMI: Contact the Curator of Arts and Education, Kristen Ruck at mailto:mkristenruck_owm@hotmail.com or telephone (307) 778-7289.
Call for artists: "Mother/mother" exhibit
A.I.R. Gallery, a nonprofit gallery space in Brooklyn, N.Y., advocating for women in the visual arts since 1972, invites artists working in all media to submit artwork to be considered for its fall 2009 exhibition “Mother/mother.” Curator Jennifer Wrobleski is seeking work (by women and men) made during a pregnancy or within five years of the birth of the artist’s child. Submissions need not be specifically about parenting or childbirth, though the curator is particularly interested in work resulting from changes in artistic processes or new thematic concerns that arise out of pregnancy. Proposals must be postmarked or hand delivered to the gallery on or before July 1, 2009 at 6 p.m., and online submissions must be received on July 1 by 11 p.m.. A downloadable application is available here.
Yoga and poetry workshop in Barbados
"Poetry maven" Judyth Hill has served as a WAC creative writing fellowship judge and has conducted many poetry workshops in Wyoming. She and a colleague are conducting a yoga and poetry workshop in Barbados this summer. Although an island on the eastern fringe of the Caribbean is quite a jaunt for most of us in the Rockies, Wyomingarts felt like passing on the info because Judyth is a pal to writers in the state and the poster is neat-o.
Celtic harpist Michael Riversong on the mend, plans June 26 concert in Cheyenne
Wyomingarts sends a "get well soon" message to Cheyenne musician and poet Michael Riversong who recently underwent emergency surgery in Fort Collins, Colo.
Michael had his big toe and part of his foot amputated due to a severe infection.
Here's part of an e-mail message he sent yesterday:
So far the healing thing seems to be going fairly well. They transferred me out of the hospital to a temporary home a few days ago. Here I'm getting daily antibiotic IV treatments and a nurse comes by to re-bandage the amputation site about every other day. The amputation wasn't too bad actually -- mainly the big toe on my right foot and some area behind it where an infection had entered bone. My doctor says he knows people who lost toes to frostbite while climbing Mount Everest, and afterward they went back and climbed it again. I'm not sure if that means I'm supposed to climb Mount Everest in the future.
Great to see that Michael's sense of humor is still intact.
He's not driving yet, but he has scheduled a performance on Celtic Harp at the Plains Hotel lobby in Cheyenne on Friday, June 26 at 6 p.m. It's sponsored by Phoenix Books. For info, contact Phoenix Books at 307-632-3476.
Get well soon, Michael
Michael had his big toe and part of his foot amputated due to a severe infection.
Here's part of an e-mail message he sent yesterday:
So far the healing thing seems to be going fairly well. They transferred me out of the hospital to a temporary home a few days ago. Here I'm getting daily antibiotic IV treatments and a nurse comes by to re-bandage the amputation site about every other day. The amputation wasn't too bad actually -- mainly the big toe on my right foot and some area behind it where an infection had entered bone. My doctor says he knows people who lost toes to frostbite while climbing Mount Everest, and afterward they went back and climbed it again. I'm not sure if that means I'm supposed to climb Mount Everest in the future.
Great to see that Michael's sense of humor is still intact.
He's not driving yet, but he has scheduled a performance on Celtic Harp at the Plains Hotel lobby in Cheyenne on Friday, June 26 at 6 p.m. It's sponsored by Phoenix Books. For info, contact Phoenix Books at 307-632-3476.
Get well soon, Michael
Richardson: "A Short History of American Art"
Wyoming Arts Council board chair Bruce Richardson will be presenting a program entitled "A Short History of American Art" at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 11 (tonight) in the Laramie County Public Library's Cottonwood Room, 2200 Pioneer Ave., Cheyenne. It's described by the library as "a 90-minute journey through American art and history. This won't just be a lecture on art history with slides in a dark room (remember those?) -- Bruce doesn't want us to fall asleep! So bring your thoughts and comments for lots of Q&A."
FMI: Jennifer Rife, LCLS Community & Media Relations Specialist, 307.773.7218
FMI: Jennifer Rife, LCLS Community & Media Relations Specialist, 307.773.7218
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Hot peppers & tunes enliven Chili Cook-off
From the Cheyenne Depot Museum:Union Wireless Peppers on the Plaza, Cheyenne’s Chili Cook-Off will be held at the Cheyenne Depot on Saturday, June 13th and Sunday, June 14th.
This will be the International Chili Society’s (ICS) Wyoming State Championship and the Chili Appreciate Society International’s (CASI) Cook-Off. The Cheyenne Chili Cook-Off will have 20 cooking teams on Saturday and more than 35 cooking teams on Sunday. This will be one of Wyoming’s largest chili cook-offs ever held.
This event is being hosted by United Way of Laramie County, Cheyenne Depot Museum Foundation and the Cheyenne Depot Museum. Union Wireless is the sponsor. The City of Cheyenne, the Cheyenne Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Historic Plains Hotel are also supporting this event.
This family event will include free children’s activities and musical entertainment. Children’s activities will be available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The free entertainment will be on the Cheyenne Depot Plaza on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On Saturday, Pride of Five will be performing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m; Seven Sundays will be performing from 1-3 p.m; Warwick Jones will be performing from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and our Saturday headliner -- Delta Sonics -- from 6-8 p.m.
On Sunday, Avenue will be on stage from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m; followed by Allison Draw from 1-3 p.m. The event will conclude with Country Club from 3-5 p.m.
FMI: Cheyenne Depot Museum at 307-632-3905 or Pam@cheyennedepotmuseum.org.
Russ Schnitzer photo exhibit opens June 21
This dispatch comes from Russ Schnitzer:
I am writing to let you know that I'll be opening up an exhibit of photographic prints at Lander's Folklore Coffee House on June 21. There will be an evening reception from 7-9 p.m. Displayed work will be primarily themed on Wyoming's outdoors, wildlife and fly fishing. All displayed prints are limited-edition giclee on fine art paper; much of the framing has been done by Fremont Frameworks. All prints are available for sale.
Following is a brief bio/statement:
Russell Schnitzer is a award-winning photographer ranging throughout the West. Recent gallery shows have been in Denver and Kansas City, with awards received for both color and black-and-white images. Publication credits include ESPNOutdoors.com, TU.org, TROUT Magazine, Patagonia catalogs, Fly Fish America, Fly Rod & Reel, NewWest.net, and several conservation titles.
Schnitzer grew up in rural northern Minnesota, and has lived in Idaho, Montana, Michigan, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and Colorado. He now resides south of Lander. My primary photographic ambition is to communicate the power, passion and subtlety of natural landscapes, and life within those landscapes -- flowers, fish, wildlife and people. My images represent my values, and my personal relationship with the natural world. I enjoy sharing that connection with others, who, through their unique perspectives, deepen the value of an image's time and place. I shoot primarily with full-frame digital equipment, and do not digitally manipulate images. Having learned photography using film, I subscribe to the photographic principle that "one exposure equals one image."
FMI: Russ Schnitzer at http://schnitzerphoto.blogspot.com; 307-332-9656.
I am writing to let you know that I'll be opening up an exhibit of photographic prints at Lander's Folklore Coffee House on June 21. There will be an evening reception from 7-9 p.m. Displayed work will be primarily themed on Wyoming's outdoors, wildlife and fly fishing. All displayed prints are limited-edition giclee on fine art paper; much of the framing has been done by Fremont Frameworks. All prints are available for sale.
Following is a brief bio/statement:
Russell Schnitzer is a award-winning photographer ranging throughout the West. Recent gallery shows have been in Denver and Kansas City, with awards received for both color and black-and-white images. Publication credits include ESPNOutdoors.com, TU.org, TROUT Magazine, Patagonia catalogs, Fly Fish America, Fly Rod & Reel, NewWest.net, and several conservation titles.
Schnitzer grew up in rural northern Minnesota, and has lived in Idaho, Montana, Michigan, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and Colorado. He now resides south of Lander. My primary photographic ambition is to communicate the power, passion and subtlety of natural landscapes, and life within those landscapes -- flowers, fish, wildlife and people. My images represent my values, and my personal relationship with the natural world. I enjoy sharing that connection with others, who, through their unique perspectives, deepen the value of an image's time and place. I shoot primarily with full-frame digital equipment, and do not digitally manipulate images. Having learned photography using film, I subscribe to the photographic principle that "one exposure equals one image."
FMI: Russ Schnitzer at http://schnitzerphoto.blogspot.com; 307-332-9656.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Still time to register for Jackson Hole Writers Conference
Tim Sandlin of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference sent this over the weekend:
Hello Writers,
As you may well know, many writers conferences have scaled back their programs or closed their doors entirely for 2009. And people like you are finding new ways to revel in your passions during eccentric economic times. Refocus on goals and dreams. Make every moment count.
That's also what we're doing at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, June 25-28. And that's why we are alive and well. This is our continued priority and our commitment to you. We promise you an unforgettable 2009.
Thank you to those who have already registered. We invite the rest of you to look more closely at what we have to offer. See if we're a fit.
The conference remains intimate yet powerful after 17 years. The setting, in the backyard of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, adds to the unique nature of this literary experience. We are inspired and know you will be too. Check out the lineup of speakers and workshop presenters for 2009.
As a non-profit organization, our supporters - your supporters - know this Conference is an important part of Jackson Hole's cultural community and a valuable component of many writers' lives. This commitment keeps the registration cost of our conference beyond reasonable. Our programs stay fresh and on the grow. Just last year we added a poetry track.
We thank all of you, and the publishing world at large, for keeping us on our toes, making sure your ideas are flowing toward print and that quality and creativity are always at their peak.
This is the year to visit Jackson Hole. And we're giving you the perfect excuse.
Call us with questions at 307-413-3332, or simply sign up.
Hello Writers,
As you may well know, many writers conferences have scaled back their programs or closed their doors entirely for 2009. And people like you are finding new ways to revel in your passions during eccentric economic times. Refocus on goals and dreams. Make every moment count.
That's also what we're doing at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, June 25-28. And that's why we are alive and well. This is our continued priority and our commitment to you. We promise you an unforgettable 2009.
Thank you to those who have already registered. We invite the rest of you to look more closely at what we have to offer. See if we're a fit.
The conference remains intimate yet powerful after 17 years. The setting, in the backyard of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, adds to the unique nature of this literary experience. We are inspired and know you will be too. Check out the lineup of speakers and workshop presenters for 2009.
As a non-profit organization, our supporters - your supporters - know this Conference is an important part of Jackson Hole's cultural community and a valuable component of many writers' lives. This commitment keeps the registration cost of our conference beyond reasonable. Our programs stay fresh and on the grow. Just last year we added a poetry track.
We thank all of you, and the publishing world at large, for keeping us on our toes, making sure your ideas are flowing toward print and that quality and creativity are always at their peak.
This is the year to visit Jackson Hole. And we're giving you the perfect excuse.
Call us with questions at 307-413-3332, or simply sign up.
UW Summer Teacher Institute July 26-31
From a UW press release:The University of Wyoming Art Museum and the UW Fine Arts Outreach Program will host "Transforming Learning: The 2009 Summer Teacher Institute," July 26-31.
The institute, a concentrated week-long workshop for teachers, uses original art work as the inspiration to find answers to questions such as: How can art help us explore new places? Can art help us learn new things about those places most familiar to us?
Registration fee is $50 per person. Residence hall rooms, breakfast and lunch are included. Participants are responsible for their own evening meals and all travel costs. To register, call UW Fine Arts Outreach, (307) 766-5139.
Observe, question, explore, create and reflect becomes the model for discovery as teachers become students. The new Ann Simpson Artmobile exhibition, "Where We Are Is Just the Beginning," will serve as resource and inspiration, as will the summer exhibits in the UW Art Museum, including the mixed media sculpture of Montana artist Tracy Linder, watercolor sketches, drawings and prints by Thomas Moran and selections from "Adornment: Native American Regalia."
The institute is funded in part by the Sigrid See Excellence Fund for the Art Museum Teacher Institute, the UW Fine Arts Outreach Program, the UW Art Museum, the Wyoming Arts Council through the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.
"Imagine learning from the masters" is a guiding principle of the UW Art Museum's programs. The museum is located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Drive in Laramie. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free.
Photo: Cheyenne elementary art teacher, Virginia Allshouse, works on her sculpture during the 2008 Summer Teacher Institute. (UW Art Museum)
News about the new WWInc board
At the Wyoming Writers, Inc., membership meeting Sunday morning in Casper, the members voted to change its governing structure.
For most of its 35 years, WWInc operated with a slate of volunteer officers elected at each annual conference. It included a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and five members-at-large (MAL), each representing 4-5 Wyoming counties.
That structure proved to be unwieldy in an era in which people are mobile and communicate mainly through electronic means. There's no need, for instance, for geography-based MALs when members go right to the source of organizational info, whether it's on the web, e-mailed newsletters, or the new listserv.
The four officers were bound by bylaws that were rigid and constricting. The organization lost many officers during the past five years, and the bylaws made it tough to get replacements.
At the 2008 WWInc conference, members approved a resolution by Joe Megeath to from a committee that would come up with ideas for a new structure. That committee was named the Organization Restructuring Committee which was almost as unwieldy as the structure itself. I volunteered to lead the committee and renamed it ORC in honor of the creatures in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The ORC committee members were not nearly as ugly and brutal as our namesakes, but we did have to make some tough choices. We forwarded our recommendations to the board meeting and discussed them June 5 in Casper.
Thanks to all the ORCs who participated in online meetings and fired off tons of suggestions via e-mail and by phone. They were Nancy Curtis, Glendo; Joe Megeath, Denver (formerly from Lander); Katie Smith, Sundance; John Beach, Denver (long-time Rock Springs resident); Pat Frolander, Sundance; Phyllis Dugan, Thayne; Midge Farmer, Gillette; Gaydell Collier, Sundance; Chris Williams, somewhere in Idaho; and yours truly. WWInc Prez Jeanne Rogers was an interested bystander.
So, WWInc members first voted for a change in bylaws that replaced the officer structure with a governing board. The only board position would be immediate past president, which in this case is Jeanne Rogers, WWInc's fearless leader for the past year. A slate of seven other members ran for the six remaining spots. The newly elected board includes Jeanne, Ann Heberlein, Casper; Julianne Couch, Laramie; Pat Frolander, Sundance; Katie Smith, Sundance; Joe Megeath, Denver; and Mike Shay, Cheyenne.
We spent three hours after the conference revising the bylaws. And that's just the beginning. Look for more updates from the board in the usual WWInc news outlets. Stay tuned...
For most of its 35 years, WWInc operated with a slate of volunteer officers elected at each annual conference. It included a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and five members-at-large (MAL), each representing 4-5 Wyoming counties.
That structure proved to be unwieldy in an era in which people are mobile and communicate mainly through electronic means. There's no need, for instance, for geography-based MALs when members go right to the source of organizational info, whether it's on the web, e-mailed newsletters, or the new listserv.
The four officers were bound by bylaws that were rigid and constricting. The organization lost many officers during the past five years, and the bylaws made it tough to get replacements.
At the 2008 WWInc conference, members approved a resolution by Joe Megeath to from a committee that would come up with ideas for a new structure. That committee was named the Organization Restructuring Committee which was almost as unwieldy as the structure itself. I volunteered to lead the committee and renamed it ORC in honor of the creatures in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The ORC committee members were not nearly as ugly and brutal as our namesakes, but we did have to make some tough choices. We forwarded our recommendations to the board meeting and discussed them June 5 in Casper.
Thanks to all the ORCs who participated in online meetings and fired off tons of suggestions via e-mail and by phone. They were Nancy Curtis, Glendo; Joe Megeath, Denver (formerly from Lander); Katie Smith, Sundance; John Beach, Denver (long-time Rock Springs resident); Pat Frolander, Sundance; Phyllis Dugan, Thayne; Midge Farmer, Gillette; Gaydell Collier, Sundance; Chris Williams, somewhere in Idaho; and yours truly. WWInc Prez Jeanne Rogers was an interested bystander.
So, WWInc members first voted for a change in bylaws that replaced the officer structure with a governing board. The only board position would be immediate past president, which in this case is Jeanne Rogers, WWInc's fearless leader for the past year. A slate of seven other members ran for the six remaining spots. The newly elected board includes Jeanne, Ann Heberlein, Casper; Julianne Couch, Laramie; Pat Frolander, Sundance; Katie Smith, Sundance; Joe Megeath, Denver; and Mike Shay, Cheyenne.
We spent three hours after the conference revising the bylaws. And that's just the beginning. Look for more updates from the board in the usual WWInc news outlets. Stay tuned...
--Posted by Mike Shay
Cheyenne Camera Club opens photo exhibit
The Cheyenne Camera Club holds an exhibition of the winners of its annual photo contest through June 27 at the Cheyenne Artist Guild, 1701 Morrie Ave., on the west side of Holliday Park (look for the sign). The exhibition is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday, noon-4:30 p.m. FMI: Tom at 307-634-7895.
Monday, June 8, 2009
WAC roster artists Andy Nelson and Chuck Larsen at Grand Encampment Gathering
Candy Moulton's article about the Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering appeared in today's edition of The Fence Post. To read the entire story, go to http://www.thefencepost.com/article/20090608/NEWS/906089997/1032&ParentProfile=1001
Here's how it begins:
You will get a dose of Texas music, a Stampede from Utah, and some of the very best cowboy poetry Wyoming has to offer at the Seventh Annual Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering July 17-19, in Encampment, Wyo.
An evening concert on Saturday, July 18, features Jean Prescott, Award winning Texas singer/songwriter, Stampede, a cowboy musical group from Utah, and cowboy poets Andy Nelson of Pinedale, Wyo., and Chuck Larsen of Saratoga, Wyo. You are guaranteed to laugh with Andy and Chuck take to the stage. The concert begins at 7 p.m. at the Encampment School. Tickets are $15 and are available in advance or at the door.
Cowboy Gathering memberships are also available with prices beginning at $25.
Bring Andy and/or Chuck to your community by applying for a WAC Arts Across Wyoming grant. Go to http://wyoarts.state.wy.us.
Here's how it begins:
You will get a dose of Texas music, a Stampede from Utah, and some of the very best cowboy poetry Wyoming has to offer at the Seventh Annual Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering July 17-19, in Encampment, Wyo.
An evening concert on Saturday, July 18, features Jean Prescott, Award winning Texas singer/songwriter, Stampede, a cowboy musical group from Utah, and cowboy poets Andy Nelson of Pinedale, Wyo., and Chuck Larsen of Saratoga, Wyo. You are guaranteed to laugh with Andy and Chuck take to the stage. The concert begins at 7 p.m. at the Encampment School. Tickets are $15 and are available in advance or at the door.
Cowboy Gathering memberships are also available with prices beginning at $25.
Bring Andy and/or Chuck to your community by applying for a WAC Arts Across Wyoming grant. Go to http://wyoarts.state.wy.us.
Jackson Hole Writers Contest sponsors writing contest for attendees
This comes from the Jackson Hole Writers Conference:
Cloudveil, leader in inspired mountain apparel, is sponsoring an online reader-judged writing contest for Jackson Hole Writers Conference attendees.
Deadline is June 24. Prize is Cloudveil gear for first, second and third place finishers. Announcements will be made at the June 25-28 conference.
Theme: Inspiration -- what moves you from essence to exultation, from source to summit, from muse to masterpiece.
Your story and/or poem need not be about nature or the outdoors. JHMC wants your unique or universal, absurd or utterly profound, honest or fantastic creations.
You may submit one entry per category -- story and poetry -- to laurenmwhaley@gmail.com Stories 500 words or less, poetry 40 lines or less. Entries will be posted on The Mountain Culture blog to be judged by the blog's new and faithful readers.
Find full details at: The Mountain Culture or on the conference blog.
Cloudveil, leader in inspired mountain apparel, is sponsoring an online reader-judged writing contest for Jackson Hole Writers Conference attendees.
Deadline is June 24. Prize is Cloudveil gear for first, second and third place finishers. Announcements will be made at the June 25-28 conference.
Theme: Inspiration -- what moves you from essence to exultation, from source to summit, from muse to masterpiece.
Your story and/or poem need not be about nature or the outdoors. JHMC wants your unique or universal, absurd or utterly profound, honest or fantastic creations.
You may submit one entry per category -- story and poetry -- to laurenmwhaley@gmail.com Stories 500 words or less, poetry 40 lines or less. Entries will be posted on The Mountain Culture blog to be judged by the blog's new and faithful readers.
Find full details at: The Mountain Culture or on the conference blog.
Murie Center hosts natural soundscape workshop
The Murie Center in Moose invites you to a four-day natural soundscape workshop, from 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, to noon Sunday, June 28, in Jackson Hole.
Led by bio-acousticians Bernie Krause, Martyn Stewart, and Kevin Colver, the focus will be the soundscape from many perspectives. These include the biophony — the non-human critter voices in given habitats, geophony — the non-biological sources of sound and what they reveal, and anthrophony — the noise that humans interject into the world and its direct affect on critter life and human experience. Attendees will explore the benefits of the voice of the natural world as it relates to human health and culture, including creative sound arts.
The workshop includes both field and classroom activities and is spread over a larger number of days and nights so that participants have several opportunities to record sounds. As part of the program, The Murie Center will provide accommodations in comfortable (but rustic) cabins and food service on site.
FMI: kkrause@wildsanctuary.com or call Kat at 707/996-6677.
Led by bio-acousticians Bernie Krause, Martyn Stewart, and Kevin Colver, the focus will be the soundscape from many perspectives. These include the biophony — the non-human critter voices in given habitats, geophony — the non-biological sources of sound and what they reveal, and anthrophony — the noise that humans interject into the world and its direct affect on critter life and human experience. Attendees will explore the benefits of the voice of the natural world as it relates to human health and culture, including creative sound arts.
The workshop includes both field and classroom activities and is spread over a larger number of days and nights so that participants have several opportunities to record sounds. As part of the program, The Murie Center will provide accommodations in comfortable (but rustic) cabins and food service on site.
FMI: kkrause@wildsanctuary.com or call Kat at 707/996-6677.
Ride the UW bus to Westword Music Showcase
From a UW press release:
Space is available for both University of Wyoming students and non-UW students for a June 13 bus trip to Denver for the Westword Music Showcase.
The bus leaves at noon from the east Wyoming Union parking lot and will return to campus around midnight. Cost is $10 for UW students and $15 for non-students. Tickets for the music showcase are available from the Wyoming Union information desk. Tickets include the bus ride and admittance to the music event.
For more information, contact the UW Campus Activities Center at (307) 766-6340 or e-mail cac@uwyo.edu.
More than 50 bands will perform at the music showcase on different stages set up around Lincoln Street in Denver. The showcase's Web site is http://musicshowcase.westword.com/index.php.
Space is available for both University of Wyoming students and non-UW students for a June 13 bus trip to Denver for the Westword Music Showcase.
The bus leaves at noon from the east Wyoming Union parking lot and will return to campus around midnight. Cost is $10 for UW students and $15 for non-students. Tickets for the music showcase are available from the Wyoming Union information desk. Tickets include the bus ride and admittance to the music event.
For more information, contact the UW Campus Activities Center at (307) 766-6340 or e-mail cac@uwyo.edu.
More than 50 bands will perform at the music showcase on different stages set up around Lincoln Street in Denver. The showcase's Web site is http://musicshowcase.westword.com/index.php.
Kooser a national literary treasure
My sketch of Kooser, and notes from the workshopHad the chance to sit in on Ted Kooser's final session at the Wyoming Writer's annual conference this past weekend in Casper. I regretted missing the opening readings and Saturday sessions, but I took notes and even tried to sketch him as he stood at the podium...my sketches seem to turn out caricature-like, although that isn't the view I'm going for.
A copy of his poem "Etude" was handed out, but he began with a reading of an essay he'd written about a house he had once lived in with his wife and children, and where he'd read in the paper that a 15-year-old boy had recently (in relation to when he'd written the essay) been murdered there and two other people wounded in a robbery attempt over cocaine. He was building a scale model of his wife's childhood home, and while he wallpapered the walls and painted, his imagination would fit into the rooms. He imagined himself living there, though he never had, and how the death of the boy had made his heart drop at the thought of he and his family living in that house and feeling safe while there.
The example was about metaphor and how one thing becomes something else, and something else, but has to become, to come back to, that thing again. Kooser specialty is metaphor. We lowly poets tend to say things like "The clouds in the sky were the color of gun metal gray as they pelted the ground with hail." A prosaic example, but Kooser helped diagram what metaphor can and should do. He had some great stories throughout -- like meeting the national horse-shoe-throwing champion. He asked him how he got so good and he said, "I threw 100 shoes a day." Kooser's poetry students were assinged to read 100 poems before they attempted to write one.
Think of metaphor as an imaginary equation, where one side must equal the other. Here's the poem so you can have the example that he gave to us:
Etude
I have been watching a Great Blue Heron
fish in the cattails, easing ahead
with the stealth of a lover composing a letter,
the hungry words looping and blue
as they coil and uncoil, as they kiss and sting.
Let's say that he holds down an everyday job
in an office. His blue suit blends in.
Long days swim beneath the glass top
of his desk, each one alike. On the lip
of each morning, a bubble trembles.
No one has seen him there, writing a letter
to a woman he loves. His pencil is poised
in the air like the beak of a bird.
He would spear the whole world if he could,
toss it and swallow it live.
Pretty spectacular stuff for the seeming simplicity of the image, yet Kooser led us on a journey of how he crafts his metaphors. Tenor and vehicle are the two sides of the equation -- tenor is the real thing, the blue heron; vehicle is the imaginative thing, in this case, the lover composing a letter. Remember, he said, "comparisons are most effective when they are the most disparate or widely divergent." Kooser stays in the imaginative realm with the lover who "holds down an every day job, in a blue suit that blends in." The blue refers back to the blue heron, a blending in to their environments, the heron tall and thin like the cattails he is walking in, the man blending in the shades of suits. The heron moves slowly, so as not to disturb the water and scaring the fish. The man wants to write a love letter at his job, and "No one has seen him there, writing a letter/to a woman he loves." His, and the heron's, inconspicuousness are their own reward. "The long days swim beneath the glass top," the days are like the heron looking for fish, waiting for the opportunity to spear one. The man's "pencil is poised in the air like the beak of a bird," and the stealth of the man "would spear the whole world if he could, toss it and swallow it live." The man would take in the whole world if he could by writing the love letter, that kisses and stings.
Kooser points out that only those things that have something in common to the tenor and the vehicle make sense and hold the poem together. These things can be related on each side of the equation. When metaphor is thought of in this way, then one can begin to fine tune a metaphor.
He read another poem about an aluminum boat floating on a pond. The imaginative part of the poem involved a fat man who becomes like the boat, precariously tethered to life because he hasn't taken care of himself, but also because we are all lightly tethered to life; the temporal nature of man.
Kooser mentioned a Swedish author, Tomas Transtromer, whom he especially admires for his metaphoric talent, such as "turning out the light, it was a tablet dissolving in a glass of darkenss." Kooser is a student of simplicity and clarity. He is devotee of E.B White, and he favors gramatically correct writing and punctuation. He thinks writing should be clear and transparent. He doesn't like the small "i" and thinks sentences should begin with a capital. He said, "the minute the reader's attention is called to the surface of the page is when the writing becomes weak." He also said that nothing kills a poem faster than a lot of exposition--this extra information should become the title.
He also feels that many of the performance poets depend on their performance of their work. When these poets die, their poetry will die with them. Most of these poems don't hold up without the performance. He also cited Dylan Thomas, who had a wonderful and melodic voice in the reading of his poems. When he died, people stopped reading him. My thought: it is interesting that performance poetry is not just a phenomenon of the younger generation, but has some bit of a cultural history link.
Pretty spectacular stuff for the seeming simplicity of the image, yet Kooser led us on a journey of how he crafts his metaphors. Tenor and vehicle are the two sides of the equation -- tenor is the real thing, the blue heron; vehicle is the imaginative thing, in this case, the lover composing a letter. Remember, he said, "comparisons are most effective when they are the most disparate or widely divergent." Kooser stays in the imaginative realm with the lover who "holds down an every day job, in a blue suit that blends in." The blue refers back to the blue heron, a blending in to their environments, the heron tall and thin like the cattails he is walking in, the man blending in the shades of suits. The heron moves slowly, so as not to disturb the water and scaring the fish. The man wants to write a love letter at his job, and "No one has seen him there, writing a letter/to a woman he loves." His, and the heron's, inconspicuousness are their own reward. "The long days swim beneath the glass top," the days are like the heron looking for fish, waiting for the opportunity to spear one. The man's "pencil is poised in the air like the beak of a bird," and the stealth of the man "would spear the whole world if he could, toss it and swallow it live." The man would take in the whole world if he could by writing the love letter, that kisses and stings.
Kooser points out that only those things that have something in common to the tenor and the vehicle make sense and hold the poem together. These things can be related on each side of the equation. When metaphor is thought of in this way, then one can begin to fine tune a metaphor.
He read another poem about an aluminum boat floating on a pond. The imaginative part of the poem involved a fat man who becomes like the boat, precariously tethered to life because he hasn't taken care of himself, but also because we are all lightly tethered to life; the temporal nature of man.
Kooser mentioned a Swedish author, Tomas Transtromer, whom he especially admires for his metaphoric talent, such as "turning out the light, it was a tablet dissolving in a glass of darkenss." Kooser is a student of simplicity and clarity. He is devotee of E.B White, and he favors gramatically correct writing and punctuation. He thinks writing should be clear and transparent. He doesn't like the small "i" and thinks sentences should begin with a capital. He said, "the minute the reader's attention is called to the surface of the page is when the writing becomes weak." He also said that nothing kills a poem faster than a lot of exposition--this extra information should become the title.
He also feels that many of the performance poets depend on their performance of their work. When these poets die, their poetry will die with them. Most of these poems don't hold up without the performance. He also cited Dylan Thomas, who had a wonderful and melodic voice in the reading of his poems. When he died, people stopped reading him. My thought: it is interesting that performance poetry is not just a phenomenon of the younger generation, but has some bit of a cultural history link.
--Linda Coatney
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Wyoming Writers, Inc., members vote for new board structure
Wyoming Writers, Inc., wrapped up its general membership meeting at about 9:30 a.m., a bit behind schedule but there were a lot of items to cover. Members voted to institute a new board structure that will give WWInc more flexibility when it comes to planning the conference, recruiting new members, and basically ensuring that the org will live on. Instead of direct elections of officers, a motion was approved to elect a board for a one-year term that will then elect the officers. The board also will revise the bylaws, recruit conference and contest chairs, study the possibility of hiring a part-time administrator, write grants, etc. There are many tasks faced by an all-volunteer 35-year-old organization. But in the past five years, officers have decamped to other states and resigned due to health problems. This is the sign of an aging organization, a circumstance facing all volunteer-run entities. We need to recruit new (and younger) members and discover ways to be relevant to them.
Lots to do in the next year.
By the way, I am up for a spot on the board. But because we had more candidates that positions (a rarity), we voted on paper ballots and they have to be counted I'll post the names later.
WWInc membership also voted to increase dues to $35 annually and to hold the next asnnual conference in Cody.
Now it's time to get back to the writing workshops...
Lots to do in the next year.
By the way, I am up for a spot on the board. But because we had more candidates that positions (a rarity), we voted on paper ballots and they have to be counted I'll post the names later.
WWInc membership also voted to increase dues to $35 annually and to hold the next asnnual conference in Cody.
Now it's time to get back to the writing workshops...
Saturday, June 6, 2009
New books at Wyoming Writers conference
Perusing the Ralph's Books tables at the Ramada this morning and saw new books by three Wyoming writers -- probably more where that came from. Here are the titles:
"Winter in the Bunkhouse" by Helena Linn, from 7 Cross Lazy L Productions
"Two Dot Ranch: A Biography of Place" by Nancy Heyl Ruskowsky, from Pronghorn Press
"Riding the Edge of an Era: Growing up Cowboy on the Outlaw Trail" by Diana Allen Kouris, from High Plains Press.
Also plenty of other great books offered by Tami at Ralph's Books. Authors include John D. Nesbitt, Robert Roripaugh, Amanda Cabot and Michael Shay (me). Also saw three rare copies of the anthology "Deep West: A Literary Tour of Wyoming." I sweated blood over that 2003 anthology from Pronghorn Press. Joining me in the editing angst were Wyoming Poet Laureate David Romtvedt and former Center folr the book Director Linn Rounds.
"Winter in the Bunkhouse" by Helena Linn, from 7 Cross Lazy L Productions
"Two Dot Ranch: A Biography of Place" by Nancy Heyl Ruskowsky, from Pronghorn Press
"Riding the Edge of an Era: Growing up Cowboy on the Outlaw Trail" by Diana Allen Kouris, from High Plains Press.
Also plenty of other great books offered by Tami at Ralph's Books. Authors include John D. Nesbitt, Robert Roripaugh, Amanda Cabot and Michael Shay (me). Also saw three rare copies of the anthology "Deep West: A Literary Tour of Wyoming." I sweated blood over that 2003 anthology from Pronghorn Press. Joining me in the editing angst were Wyoming Poet Laureate David Romtvedt and former Center folr the book Director Linn Rounds.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Dispatches from Wyoming Writers conference
Not live-blogging from Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Casper -- but pretty darn close.
Open mic reading at the Ramada Riverside wrapped up about an hour ago. Poems by Pat Frolander of Sundance and Bob Townsend of Atlantic City (Wyo., not N.J.). Atlantic City up by South Pass boasts a full-time population of 26 and Bob says that 7 of them are in a writers' group. Not bad, percentage-wise. Bob and his wife Barbara run a B&B and now have a bar called the Two-Bit Cowboy Saloon, Someone at our table asked him if the "Two-Bit" part of the title referred to "Cowboy" or "Saloon." "Cowboy," Bob said, without hesitation. He holds a monthly Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at 6 at the saloon. It's very popular.
Barb read a nice essay comparing cooking her first homemade tomato sauce to good writing. Rose Hill performed a call-and-response piece with WWInc. Prez Jeanne Rogers. The subject was Inuit culture. They were followed by a segment of a memoir by Nancy Smith recalling her Japanese-Hawaiian husband's experiences on Dec. 7, 1941, in Honolulu. She really had the pidgin dialogue down right.
Before the open mic, the conference panelists read from their work or talked about their publishing jobs. Ted Kooser led off with his usual stirring poems about everyday lives of people in Nebraska. Ordinary folks in extraordinary poems. One was about his trip to his 90-year-old Aunt Pearl's house to let her know that her childhood playmate, Kooser's mother, had just passed away. Pearl admitted to Ted that she was seeing people walking around her house conducting an inventory of her worldly goods. Nothing Poltergeist-like. Just people she didn't know walking around and inspecting the place. Ted says there's a term for it -- loony body syndrome. He added: "I wish I didn't know that." Poets like to make up their own terms for unusual occurrences.
Meredith Kaffel talked about her job at the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency in NYC. She was the youngest person on the panel, which makes me wonder who's reading the manuscripts I send off to NYC (as if I didn't know). But Meredith has gone from Sheedy's assistant to her partner in four years. She obviously loves her work and brings passion to it. Publishing is changing dramatically, even though the major NYC houses seem to think it's still 1959 instead of 2009. She called it an "evolving" industry. And like the evolution of a species, it's taking forever to birth its newest incarnation.
One way the industry is changing among the new generations is that they treat the Internet as their friend and not as a hissing rattler dropped into their lap. Agents look for clients on the web and even read some of the online mags. "Don't think we don't take online publications as seriously as we do the print publications -- because we do," Meredith said. I get this feeling that the whippersnappers in the publishing world look upon their elders in the same way that my teen daughter looks at me when I ask a stupid technology question. While we see ourselves as hip and groovy to have blogs and chatter on Facebook, they see us old codgers with quill pens and stale brains.
But I digress. Meredith had lots of helpful tips about working with agents. She will conducting one-on-one agent meetings tomorrow and Sunday morning. I'm set to make a pitch about my next book of short stories. She said she likes short stories, but admitted the market for collections was a little soft. Still, you have to be in the game.
The other three faculty members also made presentations. Amanda Cabot read the beginning of her new Christian romance novel, "Paper Roses," and said she's conducting a workshop about "great beginnings" on Saturday.
Not too late to sign up for the conference. Registration in the Ramada Riverside lobby begins at 8 a.m. and sessions start at 9. See you there.
Open mic reading at the Ramada Riverside wrapped up about an hour ago. Poems by Pat Frolander of Sundance and Bob Townsend of Atlantic City (Wyo., not N.J.). Atlantic City up by South Pass boasts a full-time population of 26 and Bob says that 7 of them are in a writers' group. Not bad, percentage-wise. Bob and his wife Barbara run a B&B and now have a bar called the Two-Bit Cowboy Saloon, Someone at our table asked him if the "Two-Bit" part of the title referred to "Cowboy" or "Saloon." "Cowboy," Bob said, without hesitation. He holds a monthly Second Saturday Scotch Sipping at 6 at the saloon. It's very popular.
Barb read a nice essay comparing cooking her first homemade tomato sauce to good writing. Rose Hill performed a call-and-response piece with WWInc. Prez Jeanne Rogers. The subject was Inuit culture. They were followed by a segment of a memoir by Nancy Smith recalling her Japanese-Hawaiian husband's experiences on Dec. 7, 1941, in Honolulu. She really had the pidgin dialogue down right.
Before the open mic, the conference panelists read from their work or talked about their publishing jobs. Ted Kooser led off with his usual stirring poems about everyday lives of people in Nebraska. Ordinary folks in extraordinary poems. One was about his trip to his 90-year-old Aunt Pearl's house to let her know that her childhood playmate, Kooser's mother, had just passed away. Pearl admitted to Ted that she was seeing people walking around her house conducting an inventory of her worldly goods. Nothing Poltergeist-like. Just people she didn't know walking around and inspecting the place. Ted says there's a term for it -- loony body syndrome. He added: "I wish I didn't know that." Poets like to make up their own terms for unusual occurrences.
Meredith Kaffel talked about her job at the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency in NYC. She was the youngest person on the panel, which makes me wonder who's reading the manuscripts I send off to NYC (as if I didn't know). But Meredith has gone from Sheedy's assistant to her partner in four years. She obviously loves her work and brings passion to it. Publishing is changing dramatically, even though the major NYC houses seem to think it's still 1959 instead of 2009. She called it an "evolving" industry. And like the evolution of a species, it's taking forever to birth its newest incarnation.
One way the industry is changing among the new generations is that they treat the Internet as their friend and not as a hissing rattler dropped into their lap. Agents look for clients on the web and even read some of the online mags. "Don't think we don't take online publications as seriously as we do the print publications -- because we do," Meredith said. I get this feeling that the whippersnappers in the publishing world look upon their elders in the same way that my teen daughter looks at me when I ask a stupid technology question. While we see ourselves as hip and groovy to have blogs and chatter on Facebook, they see us old codgers with quill pens and stale brains.
But I digress. Meredith had lots of helpful tips about working with agents. She will conducting one-on-one agent meetings tomorrow and Sunday morning. I'm set to make a pitch about my next book of short stories. She said she likes short stories, but admitted the market for collections was a little soft. Still, you have to be in the game.
The other three faculty members also made presentations. Amanda Cabot read the beginning of her new Christian romance novel, "Paper Roses," and said she's conducting a workshop about "great beginnings" on Saturday.
Not too late to sign up for the conference. Registration in the Ramada Riverside lobby begins at 8 a.m. and sessions start at 9. See you there.
"Our galleries are gasping for breath"
Tammy Christel wrote an interesting post today on her Jackson Hole Arts Blog about the state of the arts in Jackson as the community enters the tourist season. She includes the "Arts Mean Business" article written by Bruce Richardson and posted on the WAC blog on March 19 and later on the op-ed pages of the Casper Star-Tribune. Bruce is the WAC board chair and recently traveled to Jackson to speak to its arts community. Read Bruce's column at http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2009/03/arts-mean-business-and-economic.html.
Here is a portion of Tammy's June 5 post:
Here is a portion of Tammy's June 5 post:
Our galleries are gasping for breath. I’ve posted an idea about window art being utilized to fill and brighten empty storefronts; sent a letter to the editor at the Jackson Hole News & Guide that has yet to appear. Which is o.k., because we’ve got some mega-issues going on with our revised Comprehensive Plan.
We need some stop gap action, though; simple, non-political gestures to shore us all up while the economy writhes and we search for a livable future for Jackson. Our Center for the Arts needs a loan, galleries have closed, artists are scrambling. Artists are leaving, too. Comprehensive Plans include internal solutions, solutions that don’t have to do with sketching out a building, but that include using our hearts, minds and space in the most giving ways.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Author of "The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness & Africa" at Teton Co. Library June 11
From a Teton County Public Library press release:
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, Josh Swiller faced bloodthirsty mobs, debilitating illness, blackmailing preachers, deadly traffic accidents, scheming and corrupt government officials...all while profoundly deaf. He also found lessons, great friendship and a taste for bush wine.
Find out the recipe for bush wine and how he survived when Teton County Public Library presents an evening talk by Swiller, author of “The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa” from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 11, in the Ordway Auditorium. Following the talk, there will be a book sale and signing. The program is free and open to the public with generous support from donations, large and small, to the Teton County Library Foundation.
A New York-based writer, teacher and author, Swiller describes his deafness this way:
I was born with a severe hearing loss and became profoundly deaf by the time I was five. With the help of hearing aids, dedicated (if thoroughly unusual) parents, three wild brothers, and an audiologist who did not believe in limits, I learned to speak and lip-read quite well. Too well, almost, because I was able to pass through the world of hearing people to such a degree that many people didn't know I was deaf and I consequently could never quite figure out what I was. Deaf? Hearing? None of the above?
In his memoir, he chronicles his struggle to reconcile his deafness, amid the harsh environment of a remote African village. The book is based on the two years he spent in the Peace Corps in Mununga, Zambia, which he describes as “a fantastical place. Sixty kilometers past the last paved road, phone line and electric cable, it was part timeless village, part refugee camp.”To read more about Swiller and his work, visit http://www.joshswiller.com/. For information about the evening talk, contact the Adult Humanities Coordinator Oona Doherty at 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, Josh Swiller faced bloodthirsty mobs, debilitating illness, blackmailing preachers, deadly traffic accidents, scheming and corrupt government officials...all while profoundly deaf. He also found lessons, great friendship and a taste for bush wine.
Find out the recipe for bush wine and how he survived when Teton County Public Library presents an evening talk by Swiller, author of “The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa” from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 11, in the Ordway Auditorium. Following the talk, there will be a book sale and signing. The program is free and open to the public with generous support from donations, large and small, to the Teton County Library Foundation.
A New York-based writer, teacher and author, Swiller describes his deafness this way:
I was born with a severe hearing loss and became profoundly deaf by the time I was five. With the help of hearing aids, dedicated (if thoroughly unusual) parents, three wild brothers, and an audiologist who did not believe in limits, I learned to speak and lip-read quite well. Too well, almost, because I was able to pass through the world of hearing people to such a degree that many people didn't know I was deaf and I consequently could never quite figure out what I was. Deaf? Hearing? None of the above?
In his memoir, he chronicles his struggle to reconcile his deafness, amid the harsh environment of a remote African village. The book is based on the two years he spent in the Peace Corps in Mununga, Zambia, which he describes as “a fantastical place. Sixty kilometers past the last paved road, phone line and electric cable, it was part timeless village, part refugee camp.”To read more about Swiller and his work, visit http://www.joshswiller.com/. For information about the evening talk, contact the Adult Humanities Coordinator Oona Doherty at 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org.
Amanda Cabot's workshops at Wyoming Writers, Inc. conference
News came earlier this week that crime blogger and editor Steve Huff hads to cancel his trip to the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference June 5-7 in Casper. However, due to quick work by WWInc. officers, romance writer Amanda Cabot was recruited and has stepped in as a faculty member. Get registration forms by clicking on the above link.
Here's more info from Jeanne that appeared on the WWInc. listserv:
Here's more info from Jeanne that appeared on the WWInc. listserv:
Amanda Cabot, the newest addition to our 2009 conference faculty, has several great workshops to offer conference-goers. We are grateful to Amanda for stepping in on such short notice, and sharing her expertise and experience.
Workshop Session I: Getting to "The End": Techniques for Finishing the Book of Your Dreams: You have a brilliant premise, and wrote an opening guaranteed to hook an editor--if only you could finish the book. Cabot, who juggled a sixty-hour a week job and built a house long-distance while writing two books a year, will give you concrete techniques for finishing that book. You'll learn how to: 1) Determine why writing, both in general and in terms of your current project, is important to you. 2) Create a "culture of writing" that keeps that project first on the radar screen. 3) Make, rather than try to find, time to write. 4) Overcome middle-of-the-book blues. 5) Write even when the muse has vanished.
Workshop Session II: Great Beginnings or How to Hook an Editor: A light-hearted look at great and not-so-great beginnings. Learn and understand the common pitfalls and how to avoid them.Workshop Session III: What's the Point of Point of View?: Cabot will remove the mystery that frequently surrounds point of view, help you understand the uses of each type of POV, and show you how to choose the right one for your work.
Workshop Session IV: Surviving Rejection and Other Detours on the Writer's Path to Success: Most writer's will experience rejection at least once in their careers. Multi-published and multi-rejected author Cabot with a workshop designed to help you understand and cope with rejection. (Hint: chocolate plays a key role.)
Hope to see you in Casper this weekend!
Public Grand Re-opening set for BBHC Whitney Gallery on Sunday, June 21
The Whitney Gallery of Western Art at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody celebrates its 50th anniversary with a series of events the weekend of June 19-21.The Public Grand Re-opening will be held on Sunday, June 21, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Separate invitation-only previews for patrons and "special friends" will be held on Friday and Saturday.
To get more details about the Whitney renovation and reinstallation, go to its blog at http://whitneyreinstall.wordpress.com/. Above is a photo from the reinstallation work.
Here's some background on the efforts that led up to the 50th anniversary happenings at the BBHC:
To commemorate this significant milestone, events, publications, gallery renovations and the addition of a new artist’s studio are in the works. While visitors can certainly appreciate the beautiful paintings and sculpture currently within the gallery, the artwork does not speak for itself. A new installation and interpretation helps put the artwork into context – making it come alive. The installation is going to encourage visitors to make connections across cultures and time to see the old masterworks in a new light.
The new themes and flow of the gallery are being developed with much thought and consideration to the visitor – presenting an innovative way of interpreting western American art that gives context, encourages discovery, and presents the artwork in a beautiful, quiet, and contemplative space.
The Whitney Gallery reopens to the public on June 21, and when it does we believe it is going to be worth the wait -- trusting that our visitors are going to fully appreciate and enjoy the Whitney’s treasured artworks all the more.
The Whitney Gallery of Western Art is where you find masterworks by revered artists such as George Catlin, Alfred Jacob Miller, Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, Alexander Phimister Proctor, W.R. Leigh, Joseph Henry Sharp, N.C. Wyeth and many others.
The studios of Frederic Remington and W.H.D. Koerner, as well as the original studio cabin of J.H. Sharp, give visitors an uncommon opportunity to see the artists' work environment and discover their process of creation.
PHOTO: In April, Whitney Gallery staff reinstalled a 1996 oil painting by Allan Mardon, "The Battle of Greasy Grass." This museum purchase is oil on linen and wooden frame with painted tin figures, 76"x136". To view details of the painting, go to this BBHC site: http://tinyurl.com/op9wwz
Laughing Bird kicks off Arizona conference
Tupelo Kenyon, one-half of the husband-wife WAC roster artist duo Laughing Bird from Story, Wyo., sends word that he and Janey will be kick-off entertainment for the annual Summer Light Conference in Sedona, Arizona, on June 12-14. The Laughing Bird concert will be on Friday afternoon.The main speakers for this event are authors Lee Carroll and Greg Braden, Dr. Todd Ovokaitys and Peggy Phoenix Dubro. "Inspiring instrumental music" will also be provided by Robert Coxon.
This is the second year that Laughing Bird has performed for the conference.
You can bring Laughing Bird to your Wyoming community through a WAC Arts Across Wyoming grant. For more info and applications, go to http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/Grants/EApps.asp
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Ted Kooser delivers keynote at Wyoming Writers, Inc., annual conference
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser of Nebraska is the keynote speaker at the 35th annual Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Casper this weekend. Kooser will deliver his talk during the WWInc. banquet on Saturday, June 6, 6 p.m., at the Ramada Plaza Riverside. You must be a conference registrant or guest to attend the banquet.For a taste of Kooser, check out the podcasts for "A Literary Evening with John Prine and Ted Kooser" recorded on March 9, 2005 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. These are in MP3. Listen to Part 1 and then Part 2 .
There are several public events at the WWInc. conference. Feel free to visit the conference bookstore in the hotel's Birch Room at any time. You also are welcomed to the members' book-signing at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and the open mic reading that follows from 8:30-10 p.m.
FMI: http://www.wyowriters.org/
"Measure of a Heart" author speaks at Sheridan Public Library on June 10
Mary Ellen Geist (pictured above), author of "Measure of a Heart: A Father's Alzheimer's, A Daughter's Return," will speak at the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library on Wednesday, June 10, 6 p.m. This free event is sponsored by the Ucross Foundation, where Geist is now a writer-in-residence. Books will be on salke by Sheridan Stationery Books & Gallery.Here's more info from a Ucross press release:
More than 5 million Americans are believed to have Alzheimer's disease, with 350,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Millions of caretakers around the country are seeking guidance and inspiration in helping stricken parents and loved ones. Mary Ellen Geist, an award-winning journalist, has written about her experience caring for her father in a moving memoir, "Measure of the Heart," which includes a foreword by acclaimed neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks. (Her father, Woody Geist, was recently featured in the HBO special, The Alzheimer's Project.)
The book has been hailed as "a compelling, respectful—and somehow reassuring—book for every caregiving family that must look Alzheimer's, or any serious illness, in the face," by
Susan Strecker Richard, Editor-in-Chief, Caring Today.
The book grew out of a 2005 New York Times Thanksgiving piece by Geist that became one of the most read and emailed stories of the month. Geist had left her high-powered radio job in New York City to return home to Michigan to care for her father, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. In her book, published by Springboard/Grand Central Publishing, she draws on her own personal story as well as extensive interviews with doctors and others who have cared for an aging parent, to inspire and provide advice for everyone experiencing similar situations. She offers insights into coping with the daily tasks of caregiving, how the personality of the patient affects decisions, the progression of the disease, how to encourage interaction with the loved one you are caring for and much more.
Mary Ellen Geist was raised in a family of musicians, writers, and nature-lovers in a century-old farmhouse in orchard country outside of Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Woody, the CEO of an industrial distribution company, was also a jazz singer who performed for more than four decades with a 12-man a capella group called The Grunyons. Mary Ellen Geist's first job in broadcast journalism was as a reporter and anchor at WPZ Radio in Petoskey, Michigan. She later moved to Los Angeles to work for MGM/UA. She eventually became what's called "morning streets" reporter at KFWB Radio in Los Angeles. She spent twelve years at KGO Radio in San Francisco and later moved to WCBS Radio in New York to be afternoon anchor. She has been honored with numerous awards, including national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for best newscast and investigative reporting, and Reporter of the Year. She divides her time between the family cabin on Walloon Lake and her parents' year-round home near Detroit.
For further information, please contact the Ucross Foundation at (307) 737-2291, or sdynak@ucross.org.
Apply now for choral music performance grants
The Wyoming Arts Council announces the American Masterpiece Choral Music Performance Grant Program that may provide up to $1,000 to support and encourage the performance of choral music from American Master composers. Wyoming non-profit organizations and tax exempt educational institutions may apply for up to one-half of the costs to perform American Master choral music from the Choral Music Library within Laramie County School District No. 1. Library information and requirements may be obtained by calling 771-2105 or by accessing the internet at www.laramie1.info/music.
Grants may be used to support any cost related to performing the music borrowed from the Library, including but not limited to artist fees and travel, space rental, and transportation for the choir. Groups are encouraged to consider doing performances in unusual venues or for audiences who are underserved, such as at senior centers or pre-schools or in smaller communities that lack access to the arts. Grant funds received must be matched with cash and/or in-kind donations by the applicant. Choral groups which have received season support through the Grants to Organizations program may apply for an additional performance not part of that grant, but may use music borrowed from the library for any concert.
Applications will be accepted immediately for Choral Performance projects that will take place through November 1, 2010.
Applications must be submitted at least 14 days before the project start date. Drafts must be submitted at least five workdays prior to that. To apply for this grant online visit http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/Grants/Master.asp
Applicants are urged to call prior to applying because of a limited number of grants available. For assistance with the Choral Performance Grant Program call Randy Oestman at 307-777-7109; FAX (307) 777-5499; TDD (307) 777-5964.
Time mag explores the "Culture Crunch"
Time magazine features an article in its June 8 issue entitled "Culture Crunch: The Recession and the Arts." It explores how the "Great Recession" has impacted the arts nationally.
Here's a segment of the article.
Read the entire article at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1901465,00.html
Here's a segment of the article.
....Endowments have shrunk everywhere, and sizable budget cuts have been the rule at museums in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Diego. In February the 35-year-old Las Vegas Art Museum simply gave up and shut its doors for good.
In the world of performing arts, the news has been just as bleak. All around the country, orchestras, opera houses, theater troupes and dance companies are cutting salaries, jobs and programs. A few have simply collapsed. The Hartford-based Connecticut Opera closed this year after 67 seasons. So did the 58-year-old Baltimore Opera Company. "Most organizations have been hurt," says Robert Lynch, president of the advocacy group Americans for the Arts. "But arts organizations aren't driven by profit. They're driven by mission. And they'll do anything to survive."
The problem is that these groups have been hit in all three of their main revenue streams. For many of them, audiences are down sharply, because in a recession a theater ticket or concert seat can seem like an indulgence. Meanwhile, with corporate profits tanking and charitable endowments badly deflated, donations and underwriting have also been drying up. And as state and local governments contend with huge deficits, arts spending has been a major casualty. In Michigan, where the struggling Detroit Institute of Arts recently laid off 20% of its staff, the 2010 budget proposed by Governor Jennifer Granholm would cut arts funding to exactly nothing.
Read the entire article at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1901465,00.html
"Bite-Sized Poem" by Paisley Rekdal
Guy Lebeda of the Utah Arts Council sends this "Bite-Sized Poem of the Month" by Paisley Rekdal. Paisley directs the creative writing program at the University of Utah in SLC. When she was teaching at the University of Wyoming, she won a 2002 Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowship.
Here is this month's "Bite-Sized Poem" from Utah:
Swallows
by Paisley Rekdal
So ignorant of the world I think it’s pleasure first
that makes them dip hallucinatory arcs
across this foggy, close-cropped field
and not the insects wet legs kick up:
sharp darts that stop me in my tracks: poised, senseless
to their direction skimming
just below, the lingering white
only they see through and negotiates where I
am less than a stone to them, less than a flea
in the dun bellies flashing under a slick blue back–
seeps its yellow curls, the step ahead and behind me blurred
to the same cold capacities:
to work itself free.
Dark shank of hair
gleaming in the wet, skin frozen to the bone,
a pair of deer feeding at the wild
last hedge of raspberries.
To see Paisley perform this poem, follow this link:
http://www.nowplayingutah.com/profile/detail/596
Here is this month's "Bite-Sized Poem" from Utah:
Swallows
by Paisley Rekdal
So ignorant of the world I think it’s pleasure first
that makes them dip hallucinatory arcs
across this foggy, close-cropped field
and not the insects wet legs kick up:
here, and almost here, these
sharp darts that stop me in my tracks: poised, senseless
to their direction skimming
just below, the lingering white
only they see through and negotiates where I
am less than a stone to them, less than a flea
in the dun bellies flashing under a slick blue back–
Wings clip the brief air between us,
scythe the sweet middle where sea mistseeps its yellow curls, the step ahead and behind me blurred
to the same cold capacities:
somewhere a twist of fence, a scar
of ragged earth a truck tore opento work itself free.
Dark shank of hair
gleaming in the wet, skin frozen to the bone,
a pair of deer feeding at the wild
last hedge of raspberries.
To see Paisley perform this poem, follow this link:
http://www.nowplayingutah.com/profile/detail/596
Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund board meets June 19-20 to review grants
From a Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources press release:
Members of the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund Board will hold a grant review meeting June 19-20, at the Historic Governors’ Mansion Carriage House, 300 E. 21st Street in Cheyenne.
This year, 59 applications were received requesting more than $1.3 million (with a $50,000 maximum request cap) to support projects that begin after July 1. These applications span the state and include requests in support of historic preservation, architecture services for brick and mortar projects, a book festival, art exhibitions, folk arts, performances, arts education, endowment requests, and humanities activities.
This year’s available funding is approximately $500,000.
"The quality of these applications is excellent with requests far exceeding available funding," Cultural Trust Fund Administrator Renee Bovee said. "These projects have a combined potential impact of more than $11 million in these communities. Obviousl y, not all grants will receive funding…but as we have learned from previous grant rounds, the local impact is often under-estimated in the application process."
The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on June 19, and continue through the morning of June 20.
Full agendas are available on the Cultural Trust Fund website, www.artsparkshistory.com. For more information, you may also contact Bovée at (307) 777-6312.
Members of the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund Board will hold a grant review meeting June 19-20, at the Historic Governors’ Mansion Carriage House, 300 E. 21st Street in Cheyenne.
This year, 59 applications were received requesting more than $1.3 million (with a $50,000 maximum request cap) to support projects that begin after July 1. These applications span the state and include requests in support of historic preservation, architecture services for brick and mortar projects, a book festival, art exhibitions, folk arts, performances, arts education, endowment requests, and humanities activities.
This year’s available funding is approximately $500,000.
"The quality of these applications is excellent with requests far exceeding available funding," Cultural Trust Fund Administrator Renee Bovee said. "These projects have a combined potential impact of more than $11 million in these communities. Obviousl y, not all grants will receive funding…but as we have learned from previous grant rounds, the local impact is often under-estimated in the application process."
The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on June 19, and continue through the morning of June 20.
Full agendas are available on the Cultural Trust Fund website, www.artsparkshistory.com. For more information, you may also contact Bovée at (307) 777-6312.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"5 Years of Freedom" exhibit in Meeteetse
Photographer and world traveler David Stalcup will exhibit his work this summer at the Meeteetse Museum, 1947 State St., Meeteetse. A reception will be held for the artists on Saturday, June 6, 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.FMI: 307-868-2423 or mmuseum@tctwest.net
For more on David, go to http://davidstalcup.com
Sheridan Stationery Books & Gallery presents Paulette Kucera during "Celebrate the Arts!"
Sheridan Stationery Books & Gallery, 206 N. Main St., invites you to visit the store as part of Sheridan's eighth annual "Celebrate the Arts!" event Thursday-Saturday, June 11-13.
The store's featured artist will be Paulette Kucera. Here's more info from the Sheridan Stationery web site:
Many of you know Paulette, she has been interested in art her whole life, and active in the art community in Sheridan for quite some time. She has been doing stained glass and watercolors for 20 years. Recently, she has started working with oils. You can stop by Sheridan Stationery on Friday and Saturday to visit with her and view some of her work. It should be a fun weekend in downtown with the kick-off BBQ and quick draw at the Sheridan Inn on Thursday and artists in stores on Friday and Saturday.
FMI: http://www.sheridanstationery.com/
The store's featured artist will be Paulette Kucera. Here's more info from the Sheridan Stationery web site:
Many of you know Paulette, she has been interested in art her whole life, and active in the art community in Sheridan for quite some time. She has been doing stained glass and watercolors for 20 years. Recently, she has started working with oils. You can stop by Sheridan Stationery on Friday and Saturday to visit with her and view some of her work. It should be a fun weekend in downtown with the kick-off BBQ and quick draw at the Sheridan Inn on Thursday and artists in stores on Friday and Saturday.
FMI: http://www.sheridanstationery.com/
Laramie Gallery Walk on Friday, June 5
June Gallery Walk events in Laramie as provided by www.Northernfront.net.
Events for Friday June 5, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (unless otherwise listed):
Big Hollow Food Co-op, 119 S. 1st St., 307-745-3586, featured artists include: Unique Paper cuttings by Julia Fox, Wyoming Pastels by Tad Anderson, and Esoteric art by Bruce Allemani. Big Hollow for all your grocery needs. Enjoy the regular artists, too: Terry R. Reid, Ginnie Madsen, Ray Jordan, Ronnie Roo, Dennis Fonfara, Gail Shive, Garth Cossairt, Jerry Glass, and Jennifer Leon, crocheted garments by Bren Lieski, ceramicist Alex Ewing, and a fine selection of cards and prints by Crystal Lawrence and Alberto Alcantara of Running Cat Studio.
Keag Gallery: 414 Grand Avenue, 307-745-3308 http://keaggallery.com. Opening reception for artist Seth Ramsey, Friday, June 5, 6-8 p.m. On exhibit through June 27.
The Bead Shop, 119 Ivinson Ave., (across from the Buckhorn Bar), 307-742-0004. Open 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday thru Saturday, and noon-4 p.m. on Sunday. Featuring artists Terry & Tammy Barr: The Barrs specialize in "Tsantsas" (replicas and recreations of Native American art) as well as beading and leatherwork.
Contact Terry Reid, 307-399-2777; reidman8@yahoo.com
Events for Friday June 5, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (unless otherwise listed):
Big Hollow Food Co-op, 119 S. 1st St., 307-745-3586, featured artists include: Unique Paper cuttings by Julia Fox, Wyoming Pastels by Tad Anderson, and Esoteric art by Bruce Allemani. Big Hollow for all your grocery needs. Enjoy the regular artists, too: Terry R. Reid, Ginnie Madsen, Ray Jordan, Ronnie Roo, Dennis Fonfara, Gail Shive, Garth Cossairt, Jerry Glass, and Jennifer Leon, crocheted garments by Bren Lieski, ceramicist Alex Ewing, and a fine selection of cards and prints by Crystal Lawrence and Alberto Alcantara of Running Cat Studio.
Keag Gallery: 414 Grand Avenue, 307-745-3308 http://keaggallery.com. Opening reception for artist Seth Ramsey, Friday, June 5, 6-8 p.m. On exhibit through June 27.
The Bead Shop, 119 Ivinson Ave., (across from the Buckhorn Bar), 307-742-0004. Open 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday thru Saturday, and noon-4 p.m. on Sunday. Featuring artists Terry & Tammy Barr: The Barrs specialize in "Tsantsas" (replicas and recreations of Native American art) as well as beading and leatherwork.
Contact Terry Reid, 307-399-2777; reidman8@yahoo.com
Jalan Crossland Band's summer schedule
The Jalan Crossland Band will be criss-crossing the known universe (inluding its home turf of Ten Sleep, Wyo.) this summer. Here's the line-up:
Jun 11, Rawlins, WY, Music in the Park, 7 pm
June 12, Sturgis, SD, Agent Cooper's June Music Festival at the Buffalo Chip Campground 12 midnight
June 13, Buffalo, WY, Yak Daddy Ranch, Yakfest
June 18, Lyons CO, Oskar Blues, 8 pm, 303-823-6685
June 19, Ft. Collins, CO, On the Patio at Avogadro's Number, 8 pm
June 20, Laramie, WY, private event
June 26, Casper, WY, Nicfest, with the Fireants, 7-9 pm, 307-235-5247
June 27, Pinedale, WY, "Soundcheck" Concert Series, 5 pm, Venue TBA
June 28, Gillette, WY, private event, solo performance
July 5, Ten Sleep, WY, Big Horn Mountain Stage
July 11-12, Buffalo, WY, Big Horn Mountain Festival
July 16, Lander, WY, Museum of the American West, 307-332-2614
July 17, Cody, WY, Cody Park Bandshell, WHAT Festival, 307-899-0472
July 31, Casper, WY, White Trash Festival
Aug. 1, Sheridan, WY, Big West Arts Fest, 7 pm
Aug. 2, Centennial, WY, private event
Aug. 8-9, Ten Sleep , WY, Nowoodstock Festival
Aug. 15, Centennial, WY, private event
Aug. 16, Laramie, WY, Alibi Americana Festival
Aug. 22, Big Horn Mtns., WY, private event
Aug. 23, Nemo, SD, Historic Madison Bed and Breakfast, solo, 605-343-4408
Aug. 27, Rapid City, SD, 7th Street, Summer Nights, 5:30 pm, 605-390-3463
Aug. 28, Gillette, WY, AVA Arts Center Streetdance
Aug. 29, Sheridan, WY, Eaton Ranch, private event
Jun 11, Rawlins, WY, Music in the Park, 7 pm
June 12, Sturgis, SD, Agent Cooper's June Music Festival at the Buffalo Chip Campground 12 midnight
June 13, Buffalo, WY, Yak Daddy Ranch, Yakfest
June 18, Lyons CO, Oskar Blues, 8 pm, 303-823-6685
June 19, Ft. Collins, CO, On the Patio at Avogadro's Number, 8 pm
June 20, Laramie, WY, private event
June 26, Casper, WY, Nicfest, with the Fireants, 7-9 pm, 307-235-5247
June 27, Pinedale, WY, "Soundcheck" Concert Series, 5 pm, Venue TBA
June 28, Gillette, WY, private event, solo performance
July 5, Ten Sleep, WY, Big Horn Mountain Stage
July 11-12, Buffalo, WY, Big Horn Mountain Festival
July 16, Lander, WY, Museum of the American West, 307-332-2614
July 17, Cody, WY, Cody Park Bandshell, WHAT Festival, 307-899-0472
July 31, Casper, WY, White Trash Festival
Aug. 1, Sheridan, WY, Big West Arts Fest, 7 pm
Aug. 2, Centennial, WY, private event
Aug. 8-9, Ten Sleep , WY, Nowoodstock Festival
Aug. 15, Centennial, WY, private event
Aug. 16, Laramie, WY, Alibi Americana Festival
Aug. 22, Big Horn Mtns., WY, private event
Aug. 23, Nemo, SD, Historic Madison Bed and Breakfast, solo, 605-343-4408
Aug. 27, Rapid City, SD, 7th Street, Summer Nights, 5:30 pm, 605-390-3463
Aug. 28, Gillette, WY, AVA Arts Center Streetdance
Aug. 29, Sheridan, WY, Eaton Ranch, private event
Monday, June 1, 2009
Snowy Range Dance Festival deadline July 1
Registration deadline is July 1 for the 15th annual Snowy Range Summer Dance Festival which will be held July 15-26 on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie.A Gala Concert, directed by Marsha Knight and choreographed by Margaret Wilson, will be held on Saturday, July 25, 4 p.m., in the UW Arts & Sciences Auditorium.
The Festival Gala Concert will feature guest artists from Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble and the American Ballet Repertory (pictured above), as well as festival participants performing repertory works by dance faculty Bat Abbit, Peggy Petteway Mahoney, Kevin Byrne, Gail Benedict, Susan Israel Massey, Brent Schenider, and Darryl Thomas.
Summer events at Casper Artists' Guild
The Casper Artists' Guild, 1040 W. 15th St., has a new web site. Check it out at www.casperartguild.org.
The guild will present the Ken Hosmer Workshop on July 8-11. The workshop is now full but there is a waiting list! If you are interested, please considering registering anyway as some persons have had changes of plans and those who were on the waiting list have already been assured a spot. If you have been intending to register and have not yet done so, please come in and register soon and make a down-payment of $75.. The balance will be due by June 8. The price is $150 per person for members and $170 per person for non-members. This workshop generally costs $275 to 300 per person. Note that this fee is for the entire four-day workshop. There are no one or two day spots available.
FMI: 307-265-2655 or casperartguild@netzero.net
The guild will present the Ken Hosmer Workshop on July 8-11. The workshop is now full but there is a waiting list! If you are interested, please considering registering anyway as some persons have had changes of plans and those who were on the waiting list have already been assured a spot. If you have been intending to register and have not yet done so, please come in and register soon and make a down-payment of $75.. The balance will be due by June 8. The price is $150 per person for members and $170 per person for non-members. This workshop generally costs $275 to 300 per person. Note that this fee is for the entire four-day workshop. There are no one or two day spots available.
FMI: 307-265-2655 or casperartguild@netzero.net
Spring 2009 Artscapes on stands now
Not on newstands everywhere just yet, but in your mailbox at least. You can also access the PDF of the newsletter online on the WAC's homepage with a link on the lower left-hand side.
Mike Shay writes a great overview, beginning on the front page, of all the fellowships that the WAC offers. 2009 visual fellowship winner David Henderson's artwork flashes on the front page.
Director Rita Basom talks about the new grant Art Works for Wyoming, that supports nonprofit arts orgs. salaries, and/or fees for artists or contractual personnel that had been previously engaged but were being canceled. Board chair Bruce Richardson also continues advocating for the arts in his article, "Arts Mean Business," an article that appeared in several other publications.
There are also articles about the UW Art Symposium that took place April 2-4, Easter egg artist Bonnie Capron Decker, the Wyoming High School Art Symposium, Governor's Capitol Art Exhibition, the poetry judge for the poetry fellowships and more.
As always, we profile individual artists from around the state. This issue features "V" aka The Gypsy Cowbelle, a singer/songwriter/performer from Cora; Bo Moore, writer and photographer from Green River; and Daniel Hayward, photographer from Laramie.
If you haven't received a copy yet, just call me at 777-6393, or go to our website and read it online: http://wyoarts@state.wy.us
Mike Shay writes a great overview, beginning on the front page, of all the fellowships that the WAC offers. 2009 visual fellowship winner David Henderson's artwork flashes on the front page.
Director Rita Basom talks about the new grant Art Works for Wyoming, that supports nonprofit arts orgs. salaries, and/or fees for artists or contractual personnel that had been previously engaged but were being canceled. Board chair Bruce Richardson also continues advocating for the arts in his article, "Arts Mean Business," an article that appeared in several other publications.
There are also articles about the UW Art Symposium that took place April 2-4, Easter egg artist Bonnie Capron Decker, the Wyoming High School Art Symposium, Governor's Capitol Art Exhibition, the poetry judge for the poetry fellowships and more.
As always, we profile individual artists from around the state. This issue features "V" aka The Gypsy Cowbelle, a singer/songwriter/performer from Cora; Bo Moore, writer and photographer from Green River; and Daniel Hayward, photographer from Laramie.
If you haven't received a copy yet, just call me at 777-6393, or go to our website and read it online: http://wyoarts@state.wy.us
NEA Update on Recovery Funds
This was sent to applicants for Recovery funds from the National Endowment for the Arts:
The National Endowment for the Arts is in the process of reviewing the applications that were received for Recovery Act funds, and we are writing to provide you with an update on our progress. In early April we received approximately 2,400 applications requesting support for projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts; those applications are currently being reviewed by panels of experts. The amount of money requested by applicants far exceeds the nearly $30 million available for grants and we will be able to provide grants to only a small portion of the applicant pool.
Given that many worthy applications will not be funded, we want to make you aware that there are three additional avenues of support for NEA's Recovery Act funding:
--Your state arts agency [note: Wyoming's first deadline has passed; there may be a second deadline January 15, 2010, depending on funding]
--Your regional arts organization [note: WESTAF's deadline has passed], or
--A designated local arts agency that receives Recovery Act funding. (See the list of state arts agencies and regional arts organizations on our Web site; a list of local arts agencies that receive Recovery Act funding will be available in July.)
In addition, you are encouraged to consider the NEA's traditional funding opportunities. There are upcoming deadlines for the Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category on June 11 and the Access to Artistic Excellence category on August 13. The NEA Chairman will make final decisions on Recovery Act funding following the meeting of the National Council on the Arts at the end of June. Applicants will be informed of funding in July. In the meantime, check the "Recovery" section of our Web site for the most up to date information on all aspects of the NEA's Recovery Act program.
The National Endowment for the Arts
Sibleys perform June 3 in Jackson
Husband-and-wife folk duo Anne and Pete Sibley return to Jackson for a performance this week to celebrate the release of their fifth CD, "Coming Home." The Sibleys headline a night of their own music and their favorite standards. "Coming Home" recently was selected as an "Editor's Pick" on the independent online store CD Baby.The performance will be on Wednesday, June 3, 8 p.m., in the Center Theater and the Center for the Arts in Jackson. Tickets are $15 and available at the Center Box Office, 265 S. Cache St., by phone at 307-733-4900 or online at http://www.jhcenterforthearts.org/.
Anne Sibley received a 2009 performing arts fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council.
For info on the Sibleys, visit http://www.anneandpetesibley.com/.
"Canine Companions" kicks off June 18
Troy Rumpf at the Laramie County Public Library sends this announcement:
This summer, "going to the dogs" means something great for the community: the Laramie County Library System hosting some wonderful canine-themed events.
To begin, a new book discussion series kicks off in June. Sponsored by the Wyoming Humanities Council, registration is already underway for the first session of Canine Companions, a discussion of "Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog" by Wyoming writer Ted Kerasote. That session takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 18. To register and obtain a copy of the book, visit the "Ask Here" desk on the library’s first floor.
This series, which explores the relationship between humans and dogs, is led by Luke Stricker of the University of Wyoming’s English Department.
Other discussion dates and titles are:
The Laramie County Library is located at 2200 Pioneer Ave. in Cheyenne.
FMI: 307-634-3561 or visit www.LaramieCountyLibrary.org.
This summer, "going to the dogs" means something great for the community: the Laramie County Library System hosting some wonderful canine-themed events.
To begin, a new book discussion series kicks off in June. Sponsored by the Wyoming Humanities Council, registration is already underway for the first session of Canine Companions, a discussion of "Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog" by Wyoming writer Ted Kerasote. That session takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 18. To register and obtain a copy of the book, visit the "Ask Here" desk on the library’s first floor.
This series, which explores the relationship between humans and dogs, is led by Luke Stricker of the University of Wyoming’s English Department.
Other discussion dates and titles are:
- July 9: "Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod" by Gary Paulsen
- July 30: "Travels with Lizbeth" by Lars Eighner
The Laramie County Library is located at 2200 Pioneer Ave. in Cheyenne.
FMI: 307-634-3561 or visit www.LaramieCountyLibrary.org.
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